World neuro-disorder survey: three out of four people would want to know

Several thousands of people were polled to see what they thought about neurological disorders. Not only did three out of four participants across 10 countries say that they would rather know if they had a disorder regardless of a cure available, but 94 percent said governments or insurers should foot the bill, according to the survey conducted by Millward Brown and announced today by survey sponsor GE Healthcare.

The data from the massive “Value of Knowing” online survey spans 1,000 participants from each market—the U.S., the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, China, Brazil, Australia, Russia, India and Indonesia. The respondents were enrolled in the survey from one of the biggest worldwide online consumer bases.

The survey was conducted in June of this year and questions broached to participants involved a range of neurological disorders including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s.

Interestingly, 81 percent of respondents said they would want to know if a loved one were affected, and more women than men would rather know if they had a neurological disorder. More than 50 percent of respondents said they would pay out-of-pocket to get a solid diagnosis.  

“What these statistics tell us is just how strongly people feel about tackling neurological disorders like dementia,” Marc Wortmann, executive director of Alzheimer’s Disease International, said in an official statement. “Worldwide, nearly 44 million people have dementia and this number is expected to nearly double in 20 years as the world’s population ages. Although there is no cure yet, a timely diagnosis is useful for people with dementia to get access to current treatment, services and support, both medical and non-medical. Governments and healthcare systems need to ensure ready access to the diagnostic tools already available to accurately diagnose disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, so that people can manage the symptoms as early as possible.”

Additionally, the research covered respondents' knowledge of the symptoms of dementia. A total of 70 percent knew that memory loss was a hallmark of dementia and 61 percent of people were familiar with the associated disorientation, but fewer than 50 percent of people recognized other symptoms such as loss of initiative and difficulty with language, behavioral issues, mood and personality disturbance.